Criminal Law
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Hewitt v. United States
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 26, 2025 Ruling: The First Step Act, enacted by Congress in 2018, substantially reduces sentences that can be imposed for certain crimes that were committed before enactment, as long as final sentencing does not occur until after enactment. If a sentence for a pre-enactment crime has been vacated, either Continue reading
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Esteras v. United States
US Sup. Ct. Slip Opinion of June 20, 2025: In any consideration of the “supervised release” of a criminal convict in federal court, the sentencing judge may not consider further imprisonment of the convict beyond the term of actual imprisonment that has been formally imposed. By a 7-2 majority, the Court held that Congress mandated Continue reading
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Kousisis v. United States
decided May 22, 2025 Under 18 U.S.C. §1343, efforts to commit fraud over federally regulated transmission lines or by other means of electronic communications are felonies (i.e., “wire” frauds) punishable by up to twenty years in prison. In this case, the Court ruled that a fraudulent effort to merely induce another party to sign (or Continue reading
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FISCHER V. UNITED STATES, U.S. Sup. Ct. Slip Op. of June 28, 2024
The Court’s Ruling: The Court narrowly construed 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), the statute under which most of the January 6, 2021, invaders of the United States Capitol have been or are being prosecuted, to cover only corrupt efforts to destroy or hide tangible evidence needed in an “official proceeding.” Court Opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, Continue reading
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HARSH SENTENCING RETAINED AFTER DRUG CRIME REDUCTIONS
The federal Armed Career Criminal Act (the ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924, provides for an unavoidably severe prison sentence for individuals who are convicted of violating federal gun laws at the same time they also have a record of three or more state court convictions of a “serious drug offense” (among other things). 18 U.S.C. Continue reading
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RELIEF FROM MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES FOR DRUG CRIMES SUBSTANTIALLY CURTAILED
Several years ago, Congress enacted legislation to set mandatory minimum sentences for certain federal drug crimes. As time moved on, many Congressmen began to believe that some of the statutory minimums were too harsh in some individual cases. They and others began drafting legislation to allow judges to impose sentences below the statutory minimums in Continue reading
RECENT RULINGS 